News
Scammers circle for disaster cash
View(s):By Nidarshani Wickramasinghe
There was an upsurge in the number of online fraud complaints linked to donation campaigns for disaster relief in the wake of cyclone Ditwah as well as promotion offers for the festive season, a senior official of the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (Sri Lanka CERT) said.
Charuka Damunupola, the senior information security engineer of Sri Lanka CERT, told the Sunday Times that while an average of 100 complaints are reported every month, a majority reported in November and December were linked to donation campaigns for cyclone disaster relief, as well as promotion offers for the festive season.
Around 1,680 grievances on internet fraud have been reported from January to date, according to Sri Lanka CERT.
Mr Damunupola said that a number of complaints were received concerning fraudsters pretending to be representatives of the government, state institutions, popular supermarket chains and reputable business organisations.
Following the recent cyclone disaster, cyber fraudsters are presenting themselves as relief workers, seeking monetary donations. Many have fallen victim, Mr Damunupola said.
It is strongly recommended to not click on links from unknown sources, to not provide personal information or One-Time Passwords (OTP) through an untrustworthy source and to not provide personal information to strangers or unknown websites.
It is important to know that government agencies and reputable institutions do not ask in messages or through links for personal and private information, he said.
“Some ads may portray an offer for scholarships for university studies. In this kind of advertisement, it is important not to click on the link before verifying that it is an official website or social media account of that institution. Additionally, do not link donations and gifts during Christmas festivities and the collection of personal information via WhatsApp or Messenger. ‘Never share your OTP and passwords,’’ he said.
When Police Media Spokesman F.U. Wootler was asked about the scams, he said victims can complain to the Cyber Crime Division of the CID personally or by email.
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